West Seattle coyote sighting: First one in a while
For a while last year, coyote-sighting reports were coming in almost daily. Then – either the coyotes started keeping a low profile, or else people started getting used to them. At any rate, we got a sighting report tonight, so we’re sharing what Kim sent:
Hello, We live on 51st Place west of Edmunds St above Beach Drive [map]. Our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel (a small one, just 12 lbs) went crazy barking this morning. As I looked out the window I saw a coyote. He/she (was) about the size of a German Shepherd. I had only let our dog in from being outside a few minutes before. Very scary, therefore I told the family Prince must go in his pen when outside. He has gotten used to a pen because of a close encounter with a raccoon last summer.
Previous WSB’er coyote reports (many with photos) are archived here, newest to oldest. State-collected info on coexisting with coyotes can be found here.
Want to tell the mayor what you think, in person? Here you go
Just in from Mayor Nickels‘ office – three “open houses” next week where you’re promised the chance to talk with him and city staffers about the December snowstorm response – note the third one is happening here in West Seattle (home to the mayor, deputy mayor, SDOT boss, among others):
SEATTLE – Mayor Greg Nickels invites Seattle residents to talk with him, department heads and city staff about their winter-storm experiences. The input is being gathered as part of a citywide performance review of emergency snow operations.
Three meetings are planned and residents are invited to attend any or all:
● Tuesday, Jan. 13, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the Green Lake Community Center, 7201 E. Green Lake Dr. N.
● Wednesday, Jan. 14, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the Garfield Community Center, 2323 E. Cherry St.
● Thursday, Jan. 15, 6:30 to 8 p.m., at the Southwest Community Center, 2801 S.W. Thistle St. (map)
The sessions will offer residents an informal opportunity to talk one-on-one with the mayor and meet with staff from transportation, utilities and other departments.
Indictment in Delridge mother/son shooting, and WS “chop shop”
That photo (by Sage K) is from a long night back in May, when we and many WSB’ers stayed up into the night tracking the situation on Delridge (original coverage here) as police tried to find the person who shot a mother and her 10-year-old son, from outside their home. Today, we learn that new indictments say the shooting was meant to intimidate the older victim out of testifying in a federal case. This was first reported last night by KING5, but the online story didn’t mention West Seattle or Delridge, so we didn’t catch it, but Stephanie e-mailed us the link today, wondering if it was the same case. We checked with local U.S. Department of Justice spokesperson Emily Langlie, who confirmed that the May shooting mentioned in the story was indeed the West Seattle case, and sent us the indictment documents. Not only do the indictments cover that shooting, describing the mother as a “government witness,” but they also detail the alleged stolen-car/parts ring that’s at the heart of the case; it had been under investigation even before the shooting, the main suspect, DeVaughn “Buster” Dorsey, accused of being involved in the operation of a “chop shop” in a garage at an apartment complex at 7535 24th SW (map). The documents say this operation ended in May, about a week and a half after the Delridge shooting – Dorsey’s been behind bars since 5/23/2008 — and list more than a dozen specific vehicles. Counts 21 and 22 have just been added to a pre-existing indictment, and they’re the ones involving the shooting, for which Dorsey is charged with witness tampering and “discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.” Both shooting victims have recovered; we checked state court records to see if Dorsey has a criminal history — his name is listed (for civil proceedings as well as criminal) for 170 cases in the past 20 years. He’s due in court to answer these charges next Thursday. ADDED 4:23 PM UPDATE: Uploaded the entire indictment so you can read it if you’re interested – there’s no confidential info but lots of details.
Spokane Street fire followup: Fund set up for The Dutchman
As discussed in comments following yesterday’s coverage of the Spokane Street fire (here and here), though it apparently started in Pacific Sheet Metal, it also burned The Dutchman next door – a site rich in Seattle music history. WSB’er RealLowVibe just tweeted word of this website set up to help the Dutchman recover. Today’s update from the fire department is that investigators still can’t go in because of all the water flooding the site (see photo above, taken yesterday by C. Simmons), and it may take several days for the scene to be safe enough for them to enter.
If you’ve been following the “P-I for sale?” story
Last night KING5 TV broke the story that the P-I would be put up for sale as a possible precursor to closing. People at the paper expressed surprise, as they hadn’t heard this. Today, however, this has just appeared on the P-I’s online home page, confirming it:
The Seattle P-I newspaper is being put up for sale. Steve Swartz, president of Hearst Newspaper Division, told the newsroom that Hearst Corp. is starting a 60-day process to find a buyer. If a buyer is not found, Swartz said, Hearst will pursue other options. The options include moving to a digital-only operation with a greatly reduced staff, or completely shutting down operations. In no case will Hearst continue to publish the P-I in printed form, Swartz said.
(Update: It’s now on the P-I site in article format; second update, here’s the Hearst news release.) We want to add a personal note that we would hate to see the P-I go, for one major reason: It has by far led the way in Seattle in presenting online news and information on a citywide/regional basis, including recognition of the importance of collaborating with the people formerly known as “readers.” (The P-I has also trailblazed in creating opportunities for its reporters to do coverage in blog format as well as traditional articles; among the stories it’s covering that way right now is the announcement that Boeing‘s Commercial Airplanes division plans thousands of job cuts this year – here’s the latest on the P-I site.)
2:45 PM UPDATE: Side note on this story, a little visual reminder that the news landscape has changed. Joe sent this screen grab from his check of Google News coverage on the P-I sale:
He hadn’t been aware that WSB stories are indexed in Google News. We announced that here last February. WSB was the first blog-format Seattle neighborhood-news site to get Google News indexing; several other sites achieved it within the past month or so.
It was a dark and stormy … stretch of road: Bridge burnout
More than a few people have e-mailed to ask why so many street lights are burned out – and have been for some time – along The Bridge; in the past few days, we’ve also heard about a particularly unlit stretch of South Delridge. Two things to share: First, we have the question out to Seattle City Light‘s communications team, which so far has learned that the person in charge of “operations” for this area has just convened a meeting on the subject; as soon as info from said meeting – what’s going to be done and when – is available, we’ll report it. Meantime, don’t ever assume the city “knows” a light is out; this SCL page has options for how to report them.
10:39 AM UPDATE: We’ve learned from City Councilmember Tom Rasmussen‘s staff that he too has been pursuing this with SDOT and City Light, which for starters has told Rasmussen that “a re-lamping effort” is in the works later this month for the Spokane Street Viaduct stretch of The Bridge (99 to I-5), and the councilmember expects work to be done on the high bridge’s lights then too.
West Seattle Crime Watch: Stolen Santa, and more theft alerts
Several quick Crime Watch reports to share from the past few days. We start with the Saga of the Stolen Santa. Kirsten in North Admiral sent the photo of the “Old World Santa” at left and wrote: “(Tuesday) when I got home from work I noticed that the Old World Santa I display yearly had been stolen from my front porch. Normally I would not get upset about a material thing but the more I got to thinking about it, the more upset I have become. The Santa was my Mother’s who is now deceased and prior to my display, she had done so for many years prior. Each year when I’d put it out, it helped keep my memory of her alive and in a little way made the holidays a bit more bearable. The likelihood is that some kids took off with it but I thought that by sending this in, there is a chance I may get it back. It’s about 2.5 – 3 feet tall and 30 lbs or so.” Seen this Santa? Send us a note (editor@westseattleblog.com) and we’ll forward it to Kirsten. Ahead: Another stolen item whose owner hopes to get it back, and a stolen item that WAS retrieved, plus other reports:Read More
Snow response review: Councilmember’s post-briefings view
(one of many photos we received during Snowstorm ’08)
The Seattle City Council has another post-snowstorm discussion coming up next Monday morning, after more than five hours of briefings this past Monday and Tuesday. Since snow-related trouble hit West Seattle particularly hard, from missing buses to missed trash pickups, it’s not surprising that some of the toughest questions at those briefings came from WS-residing Councilmember Tom Rasmussen. Before memories of those first two briefings faded too far away, we e-mailed to ask him about any reflections on what he heard – read on to see what he sent back:Read More
Among this weekend’s highlights: Two nighttime explorations presented by 
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